


As the World Falls Down

by kaylaber1



Category: Hatoful Kareshi | Hatoful Boyfriend
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/M, Human AU, M/M, Multi, sorta - Freeform, this is an experiment, will add tags as i figure out where it's going
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 13:32:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6806914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaylaber1/pseuds/kaylaber1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After attempting suicide, Nageki Fujishiro is put into a coma for 5 years. For 5 years, Hitori visits him and talks to his vacant form, allowing his life to crumble away. For 5 years, Isa Souma, now Shuu Iwamine, tries to undo the affects of the charon virus, and fulfill a promise from long ago. And then, it all just stops.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ashes to Ashes

"What the FUCK are you talking about?!" Hitori is livid. He is screeching at the top of his lungs at a young doctor, causing a not uncommon commotion in the usual quiet of the hospital.

"Mister Uzune, please try to calm down. It is no use to lose your head before you know even half of the details concerning your younger brother's... unfortunate condition." Isa Souma's voice is collected, confident, as if this was a perfectly normal conversation. Indeed, it seemed nothing got under the clinical man's skin. "If you would just step into the room for a moment, I will explain everything."

Begrudgingly, he follows the shorter man into the room. It's painfully sterile. The walls are painted a dull ecru and the hardwood floors made footfalls crisp and echoing. A green curtain separated the patient from direct view of the door, a disgraceful imitation of privacy. The room is sparsely furnished, a small desk in the corner, a closet for linens, a pleather upholstered reclining chair... and in the center of it all like an island of pure white machinery, a hospital bed. A green haired boy slept peacefully in the pile of tubing and heated blankets, bandaged chest rising and falling with his heavy breathing. Seeing him brings a twinge of pain and guilt to Hitori's heart

"Mister Uzune, why don't you sit down? This is going to take a while."

He obeyed, situating himself on the corner of his brother's bed and waited, bracing himself for the awful news that was sure to follow. Dr. Souma took a seat in the recliner adjacent to him with a somewhat uncharacteristic sigh.

"I do not sugar-coat anything Uzune, the likelihood that your brother will come out of this coma is pathetically low. Whereas he only sustained minor burns, and will be scarred for the rest of what, possibly short life he has left, the true problem is internal. He spent to long inhaling the smoke, with the virus this most likely caused irreparable brain damage."

Hitori took the long, awkward pause to mean that the quack had said his part, and rose to his feet slowly. "Well, thank you for that lovely insight doctor, but the nurses here have already been kind enough to inform me that Nageki is as good as dead. I'll be leaving now."

"I am not yet finished, Mister Uzune sit down." his voice was cold and commanding. Feeling rather threatened and curious about what he had to say, Hitori did as he was told without complaint. "The nurses tell you he's hopeless, and they're most likely correct, but I know things they do not. Mind you, what I am about to tell you could get either one of us killed at any point, so I would appreciate it if it stayed within these four walls." He took a deep breath, as if bracing himself for the words to follow, which only served to twist the dagger of unease in Hitori's gut. "Your brother was part of an experiment being conducted by the Hawk party in their efforts to eradicate the percentage of the population with blood type A. Mister Fujishiro has suffered all his life from a disease that the party has named the 'Charon virus'. The virus, along with producing symptoms such as immunodeficiency, ecchymosis, stunted growth, and organ damage, seems to have an unusual affect on persons of the A blood type, causing a rapid loss of oxygen in the blood stream. Without any regard to his mental or physical health, Mister Fujishiro was subject to numerous tests of the virus's effects on the A blood type, and sadly, attempts at strengthening the virus. The boy is quite smart, and he figured out that he was being made into a biological weapon rather quickly. The purpose of suicide via fire was obviously an attempt to make sure that nothing of him remained to be experimented on."

"You're fucking sick! How could you do this to ANYONE, let alone a CHILD?! Why are you telling me all of this?" rage filled Hitori rapidly at hearing what they'd done to his little brother, his poor Nageki. He should have never let him into that damned school. This was all his fault. 

"My, my, we do have a nasty little habit of speaking out of turn, don't we? I would greatly appreciate it if you would have the common decency not to interrupt me before I've had my say. Now, like you, I had been told that in addition to 'saving the world', our experiments would help save the boy. Being the naive young man that I was, I believed every word. You can imagine my confusion and frustration when, despite giving him the drugs I was instructed to, his condition only worsened. Furious, I approached my superiors about it, and was told that it was 'not my concern'. And thus, I stole away to the executive record room, where I found this file." Souma places a manila file into Hitori's hands. It reads "OPERATION: HATOFUL" in incriminating black letters.

"In that file, I found evidence that informed me that we were not 'curing' the boy, we were killing him. Uzune, let me tell you something I've known to be true all my life; In order to get ahead, you must carefully choose your pawns, otherwise they might turn against you and destroy the entire cause." A cruel smirk found it's way to Dr. Souma's lips, the first change of expression Hitori had seen since they had met in the hallway "The Hawk party, it appears, does not have a basic understanding of how to select an appropriate pawn. That was the same night as the fire, you see. I quite easily made off with the file, and the entire party believes me, the file, and your brother to be burnt to ashes in the school hospital. I have already selected an alias under which to initiate my next course of action. Henceforth you shall refer to me as 'Dr. Shuu Iwamine.' As for my next course of action-" He adjusted in his chair, crossing his legs and folding his hands across his lap. "I shall be undergoing extensive research on a cure for the Charon Virus. My hope is to not only eradicate the virus by curing its only host, but allow your brother to heal and hopefully bring him out of his coma." 

"And why should I believe you, huh? After all, you were the one who got us into this whole mess. You already promised you'd make Nageki better and just look at him! Why is this time going to be any better than the last?" Hitori was once again screaming in his face 

"Because I owe it to someone. I made a promise to fulfill a man's dying wish, and then I proceeded to only make the problem worse. This is my only chance to make it up to him."For a moment, Isa's voice hitched, showing a rare sliver of vulnerability. 

Hitori was suddenly reminded that the man he was speaking with was only just a year older than him, and had probably been through just as much as he. His paternal side kicked in, and he reluctantly agreed to this arrangement. Besides, he owed it to Nageki to do whatever it took to get him back, regardless of whether or not he trusted the 19 year old prodigy. After all, it was his fault that Nageki was like this. All his fault.....


	2. Five Years

Before he knows it, Hitori has wasted five years of his life. He goes to school, gets his teaching degree, meets someone, but at least mentally, he never leaves that little hospital room. Sometimes he talks to him. Others, he just sits and stares, waiting for him to wake up, and knowing deep down that he won't. Iwamine tells him that he's made a breakthrough in the cure, though Hitori never listens to the man anyway. How can he hear over his own guilt? Over the part of him that is still pinning it all on that cruel and mysterious doctor? Sometimes the voice in his head is his own. Others, It's Nageki. He can no longer deny that he has lost his mind waiting, talking with someone who had been dead to the world for five years. He comes home to a beautiful and sensitive man who loves him dearly, yet for whom he can feel nothing in return, and tells him sweet little lies until he is content. The narcolepsy has gotten worse. He doesn't take his meds. He just doesn't care anymore. And then, his world shatters.

Dr. Iwamine calls him into his office, on a spring afternoon. It's still rather chilly outside, and the cherry blossoms in the city have started to bloom. The pink petals cling to his clothing on his walks home, and he spends his free time vacuuming them from the carpet so Kazuaki doesn't have anything more to stress about. His shoes make a sharp sound on the linoleum floor of the school, assaulting his brain with images of that one fateful night. He pushes open the door without hesitation and walks listlessly inside.

The infirmary smells like rubbing alcohol and floor cleaner. It's overwhelming, like someone had soaked the entire room in it. It only adds to the cold, sterile environment that both intrigued and intimidated anyone with a will to live. Hitori, however, was not among that happy number. He idly thought about how Iwamine blended right into the room, like he had always been there and always would be.

"You wanted to see me about something?"

"Yes. Sit, Uzune." replied the doctor in his unfeeling tone of voice. He never even looked up from his paperwork. Hitori sat in the chair across from the whirlwhind of papers, under which most assuredly sat Dr.Iwamine's desk. "Mr. Fujishiro has responded well to the experimental cure. Evidence of the Charon virus in him is diminishing. He should be cured in a month or so, if all goes according to plan. And-" His piercing purple eyes met Hitori's, commanding his attention. They hadn't really made eye contact since their scuffle in the hospital, and Hitori found himself extremely intimidated. "He is waking up." 

The frosted glass window through which Hitori had been looking burst into a million pieces. Now, after five years of being dead, he came back to life. Nageki was back. NAGEKI was BACK. He didn't know if he was more overjoyed, or terrified. He had spent five years in cold solitude and just when he had grown accustomed to it, warmth and color flashed into his life at full blast. It was overwhelming. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. The room closed in on him as his vision faded to black.

Waking up is always the worst part of fainting. He wonders for a moment if this is what it feels like for Nageki. There is a pounding in his head, and the doctor is standing over him, scrutinizing him with a calculating stare.

"Interesting..." He says under his breath "I called Nanaki to come get you, I've an awful lot of work to do, and I cannot afford to be your babysitter."

"I can't imagine how difficult it was to care for someone who was unconscious." Hitori retorted, swinging his legs over the infirmary cot to which he had been moved during the ordeal.

Iwamine doesn't grace this with an answer. He propels himself back over to the desk like a child playing in an office chair, and returns to the mountain of paperwork that Hitori is beginning to believe is just an excuse to not interact with those around him.

Moments later, he is out of the 'Den of Evil' as Kazuaki's class eccentric would say, and in the passenger seat of Kazuaki's Prius ignoring another tear-filled lecture on taking care of himself. He didn't know it was possible for his mind to be swarming with information and at the same time be so blank. 

"Nageki is waking up." Hitori's voice is flat. He knows he probably interrupted him, but he can't bring himself to care. The words hang in the air, silencing the blonde.

The tension is palpable. Kazuaki and Nageki had never met. Nageki had always been the source of Hitori's anguish, more of a thing than a person in Kazuaki's mind. Naturally, he should hate him, but he doesn't. After all, pain was what brought him and Hitori together. If it hadn't been for their mutual suffering, Hitori would never have noticed him. He should be happy that Hitori was getting his baby brother back, yet he couldn't find it in him. He couldn't help but think about how his whole world was about to change. The expression on his face turned to stone as he gripped the wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. The rest of the drive passed in silence

....

....It's.... cold. That's the first thing Nageki registers. His eyelids flutter open for the first time in Five years, and he looks around the room. He's in a hospital. He tries to sit up in the bed, but finds himself paralyzed. Panic takes hold of him quickly. An oddly familiar voice cuts through the frigid air, stopping his struggles. 

"Don't try to move. You wouldn't want to hurt yourself any further." 

He tries to speak, but the words are caught in his throat. He lies there helplessly, wondering what was wrong and how he got there. Last thing he remembered, he was calling out his last requests to Hitori from the other side of a door as flames licked his body. 

"I'm sure you must be terribly confused, so I will do my best to explain." The voice comes again. It's so very familiar to him, and yet his damaged brain cannot remember to whom it belongs "Your name is Nageki Fujishiro, you were a patient at St. Pidgeonation's underground hospital, and the only known carrier of the deadly Charon Virus, which an anti-A blood type group called the Hawk Party was attempting to isolate and use as a biological weapon.You were put through horrible tests and forced to kill several innocent people, which needless to say had a very negative effect on your psyche. You decided to take matters into your own hands and attempt to burn yourself alive so that no portion of your body would remain to be experimented upon. A wise endeavor that ultimately failed, instead putting you in a five year coma. You will be happy to learn, however, that you have been successfully cured of the Charon Virus, and upon your release from the hospital, may continue with your highschool education." 

It's a bit much to handle all at once, but nonetheless Nageki's memories begin to return. There are still gaps, big, gaping holes like his childhood and exactly where he met the one called "Hitori" whom he knew as his brother, but he remembered the hospital, the gruesome experiments, the fire, and most of all the young doctor who used to care for him, his voice still unmistakable after five years. 

"Doctor.... Souma...?" His voice rasps. The words feel like sandpaper in his throat. 

"Shh. It's Iwamine now, Mister Fujishiro. For both of our safety. "


	3. Sound and Vision

The hospital around him was the same as it always was; bustling with activity and full of tears. ICU was never a happy place to be. Hitori made awkward, silent eye contact with the green haired boy- No, he was 19 now, a man- on the hospital bed in front of him. He didn't know what to say, after all, what CAN you say to someone who has been dead to the world for five years? He wasn't even sure that was his brother anymore.

"So. What have the last five years been like?" Nageki asked. It was all he could do to make conversation. The man who sat before him was most assuredly Hitori, but he had changed. Once full of life, he now sagged, looking old and tired like a stale cardboard box that had been left out in the rain. 

"Good, I guess. I got my teaching certificate. Moved in with my colleague and boyfriend. His name is Kazuaki Nanaki. You'd like him." Hitori attempted a smile, but it looked as fake as it felt. Nageki was surprised at how difficult it was to talk to him. 

"Sounds like I've missed a lot." Nageki smiled back, his fake smile completely seamless after years of masking his illnesses. 

"You sure have..." Hitori trailed off, thinking about how gut-wrenchingly lonely these years had been. Come to think of it, he could barely remember a time when he wasn't grieving for his brother. It was going to be a difficult adjustment period for both of them. Sensing a chill in the air, Nageki quickly changed the subject.

"The doctors said they're releasing me in a few days. They're moving me out of the ICU tonight." He continued to smile, hoping that might open Hitori up a bit. "And Dr. Iwamine says that I can continue my studies at St. Pidgeonation's- as an actual student rather than a guinea pig- in the fall!' 

Hitori's eyes remained focused on the wall above him rather than his eyes, but he made the effort to smile again. He was tying so hard to be happy about all of this. "That's fantastic! Kazuaki and I will clear out a room for you tonight, and I'll go buy you some school supplies. The fall semester starts in 3 weeks, you don't have much time to get ready."

"I'll be fine. I'm going in as a freshman, so the first semester should be review."

"A freshman? I thought you completed your freshman year before-"

"No. My studies were...interrupted. But Hitori. I'm finally well. I feel better than I have my entire life." This time, the smile was genuine. The prospect of being able to live life uninterrupted was positively delightful. Although, he still had limits. Waking from a five year coma was almost unheard of, and a coma of any length took it's toll on the mind and body. He'd have to take it easy for the first six months, but after that he was free to run wild. He'd been "taking it easy" his entire life, another six months was nothing.

Their awkward conversation was interrupted by a stout nurse in green scrubs. He told Hitori that he had reached his maximum visitation time, and had to leave so that the patient could rest. Nageki scoffed internally. He'd been resting for five years, he sure as hell wasn't about to lie down and take a nap. However, the nurse led Hitori out by the arm with the sort of familiarity of an old friend. He must have done this many times before while Nageki was asleep. No, not really asleep, just dormant. He seemed like a nice enough fellow, despite his rough looks. He was much more personable than his night nurse, anyway. The fiery she devil would scold Nageki every time she went to check his vitals and found him wide awake. 

"Nageki?" The nurse's voice interrupted his train of thought. Had he been speaking before? "I asked how you were feeling."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I was lost in thought. I'm feeling...well. for once in my life, I feel well."

\---------------------

Around 10:00pm, there is a light, formal knock on Nageki's door. A small, unassuming figure steps into the room. Nageki is fond of the new room. He has a nice view of Little Dove Haichiman City. He is expecting the night nurse again, and begins sobering himself for the encounter, but the touch on his hand is much different, the hand is too slender, the grip too firm.

"Mr. Fujishiro. How is the recovery?" The cool, velvety voice of Dr. Iwamine fills the room.

"Not as easy as I expected. A lot can change in five years. I can't say I'm not a little terrified of what it's going to be like out there after all this time." he answered, still staring out the window. The view had changed somewhat. There were a few more buildings, and even a few skyscrapers, but it was still the same Little Dove Haichiman. "What happened to my night nurse?" 

"She was...preoccupied. Besides, I needed to speak to you. Now that you're well into the recovery stage, it's time for you to learn a few things about yourself."


End file.
